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The Pop Almanac Podcast #29: Aging Comedy

On this week's Pop Almanac, Brendan and Duncan address the recent controversy worrying every fan of NBC's Community, namely the feud between show creator Dan Harmon and star Chevy Chase.

In short, after an on-set blowup by Chase, Harmon played profane voicemails from the legendarily difficult comedy in front of other people, which somehow leaked to the internet. Harmon then sort-of apologized on his blog, and another profane (but mostly reasonable) Chase voicemail leaked on Tuesday.

Buried beneath the egos is a legitimate question: does Chevy Chase fit the comedic sensibility of Community, or is it a case of comedy moving on without him? The Pop Almanac ruminates on how Chevy Chase's comedic contemporaries, like the ever-adored Bill Murray, have evolved and stayed relevant beyond the lifetime of their comedic stardom, or moved onto other pursuits (like banjo player/art collector/novelist/screenwriter Steve Martin).

Can you stay relevant as a comedic force without being as ironic and meta as the current age of television? Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?